Food handling apparatus



Oct. 31, 1933'. o. A. MEEKER FOOD HANDLING APPARATUS Original FiledMarch 27. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR gm Q Me ATTORNEY FooDHANDLINGAPPARATUS Original Filed March 27, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 F1 74 JINVENTOR Y 49ml M w/ @4414 )-z ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 31 1933 UNITEDSTATES FOOD HANDLING APPARATUS 7 David A. Meeker, 'Troy, Ohio,assignorto The Hobart Manufacturing Company, Troy,

a corporation of Ohio Ohio,

Original application March 27, 1930, Serial No.

Divided and this application December 22, 1931. Serial No. 582,579

2 Claims. (Cl. 210158) 18, which in turn is plvotally connected to arear- This invention relates to food treating apparatus and particularlyto apparatus used for straining, crushing or otherwise treatingfoodstuffs.

One of the principal objects of the invention is to provide'shaft drivenapparatus of this character having a container wherein the entirequantity of food under treatment will be subject to effective action ofthe apparatus.

Another object of the invention is to provide power driven apparatus ofthis character having a driven shaft with a planetary movement, with astraining or colander roller and bowl constructed so that the roller inits planetary movement sweeps substantially the entire lower side andbottom wall surface of the bowl.

Another object of the invention is the provision .of a container orcolander bowl which may be used effectively as an attachment for a powerdriven mixing machine, which is both strong and durable,.and which maybe easily disassembled and cleaned.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description, the accompanying drawings, and the appendedclaims.

This is a division of my copending application, Serial No. 439,507,filed March 27th, 1930.

In the drawings,in which like characters of reference designate likeparts in the several views thereof Fig. 1 is a side elevational view ofapparatus constructed in accordance with this invention, parts beingbroken away and in section to illustrate the construction thereof:

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged elevational view, partially in section of thecontainer and food treating member shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 with the food treating member in adiagonal position of its planetary movement; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectionalview of a modified form ofcontainer.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, in which'are illustratedpreferred embodiments of the invention, the numeral 10 indicates thebase of a food treating machine, shown as a conventional type of cakemixing machine, to whichis attached a pedestal 11. The pedestal 11 isprovided with parallel guides 12 slidably receiving the slides 14,carried by the semi-circular bowl lift support or yoke 13. A shaft 16 isrotatably mounted within the pedestal 11 and carries a crank arm 17pivotally connected to a link ,the driven shaft 32.

wa rdly extending arm 20 rigidly carried by the slide and yoke 13 andextending through an elongale slot in pedestal 11 to the interior.thereof.

Arm 20 is provided with a bore through which loosely passes the link18,'the arm 20 being supported on a collar 19 slidably mounted on link18 and resiliently urged against the arm byspring 15 mounted betweencollar 19 and a nut 19 threaded on the lower end of link 18. The'shaft.16 also carries an operating crank 21, upon actuation of, which the yoke13 is vertically raised or lowered upon the guides 14. .of pedestal 11.The yoke 13 is provided with spaced pads 22 carrying upwardly extendingpins 23 for the support of a container or colander bowl 24, which isheld thereon by ears 25 attached to the container walls and providedwith openings receiving pins 23. The ears25 may beformed, as shown, aspart of carrying handles 26 of. the container. g

The pedestal 11 supports an electric motor 30 to which is attached agear casing 31. A driven shaft 32 depends from the casing 31 for theattachment of various food treating devices such as the colander roller33. Any suitable ,drive means, such as conventional gearing and changespeed mechanism as is customarily used in cake mixing machines, may beprovided within the housing 31 between'the driving motor 30 and As thedetails of -construction of this gearing and change speed mechanism formno part of the present invention, this is not illustrated in greaterdetail herein. The driven shaft 2-32 is supported for rotationalmovement within the sleeve 3% of a rotatable plate 35 carried by centralshaft 36. Shaft 32, being eccentrically mounted with respect to theaxisv of the plate 35, is not only adapted to rotate upon its own axisbut also rotates about the axis of the plate; the axis of the platebeing indicated by the center line A of Fig. 1. Planetary gearing forproducing the above described movement is well known in the mixerart,'and as any suitable conventional form may be used, this is notillustrated in greater detail herein. Food treating members which may beattached to the shaft 32' .will therefore describe a planetary path.

When the container is positioned upon its supporting yoke the bottom ofthe container lies substantially perpendicular to the axis of. the shaft32. Supportecl within bowl 24 by shaft 32 is a suitable type of colanderroller, the one patent to Miller, N0.1,563',389, dated December 1, 1925; As shown, this roller is provided with illustrated being similar tothat shown in the 0 o ment -and the-wall of the container.

a stem portion 36 attached at one end by means of a bayonet or othersuitable connection 37 to shaft 32 to rotate therewith. The lower end ofstem 36 carries a shaft portion 38 of reduced diameter carrying a crosspin 39, and slidably mounted on shaft 38 is a head 40 having adownwardly opening slot 65 receiving cross pin 39, whereby head 40 isrotatably connected 'to shaft 38. Head 40 carries transversely disposedroller shafts 41 on which are rotatably mounted cylindrical rollers 42having circular outer ends 43 i which extend somewhat beyond the ends ofshafts 41. Rollers 42 are provided with inner extensions 44 carryingannular flange rims 45.' A locking plate 46 which is longitudinallyslidable on shaft 38 is provided at its ends with downturned lips 47which overlie the annular flanges 45 to retain rollers 42 on theirrespective shafts 41. A spring 48 bearing at one end on a shoulder 49'atthe lower end of stem 36', and at its other end against locking plate 46urges the head 40 and the rollers 42 downwardly into engagement withfood to be treated adjacent the bottom of the container 24, thisdownwardmovement being limited by en-.

- --gagement ofthe-upper end of slot 65 with pin 39.

- 3. lower curvedportion 52 connected to a flat.

bottom plate 53 which is perforated as indicated at 54. 'Food to betreated is placed'within bowl -24,-'and then motor 30 is started todrive shaft 32 and colander roller 33 in a planetary move- ---'ment.Thus shaft 32 rotates about theaxis A,

- as'indicated by the arrow C in Fig. 2, at the same.

time 'that the roller 33 rotates about its-own-axis '40 32, sothata-point 55 on the axisof shaft 41.

of roller 42 describes a path indicated by the dash and dotline-B. Themovement of-rollers- 42 =---urged downwardly under the action of'spring48 lmpa'rts a crushing-andscraping action to the -foodas the rollers arerotated within the container. This action separates thejuices from the-solid portion of the foodstuffs'under treatment and the perforatebottom portion 53 of the cont'ainer permits draining oil ofthe-separated juices while the solid portions are held within-the con-"The-curvature of the lower portion 52 of the s side wall of thecontainer bears aconcentric rela- 'tionship to the circumference of thepath covered by the=rollers in their planetary movement; the.

curvature of the side wall being coordinated therewithto eliminate anytreated foodstuffs may collect between the outward sweep of the rollersduring their move- In other WOrd'sfithe curved portion 52 of the lowerside wall of the container is such as to substantially 'form the outerbounding surface or periphery of the imaginary solid circumscribing theposi- .65 -'tions assumed bythe rollers in all of their positions of'movement, a small operating clearance being of course provided. Theyoke 13 and bowl 24"are so arranged and proportioned that the.

"bowl is mounted with its longitudinal center line -substantially inalignment with the axis A of g? the planetary movement of the colanderroller.

3 Thus the rollers in rotating about their own axis.

;side wall of the interior of the container. The

distance when the roller isin the position llu food is first-placedwithin the bowl and the rolled areas where uninward curvature of theside wall begins at a height somewhat above the height of the horizontal axis of the rollers as indicated at 58, and continues to thebottom of the container.

When the colander roller axis is in alignment with a diameter of thebowl 24, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, then a point 60 on the outerperiphery of the roller in the horizontal plane of the horizontallongitudinal axis of the roller is somewhat spaced from the lower sidewall of the bowl. But

as the colander roller rotates on its own axis from this position ofalignment to a diagonal position, indicated in Fig. 4 and in dottedlines in Fig. 2,

then a point 60 on the outer periphery of the roll- 7 er in thehorizontal plane of the roller axis has mo'ved the maximum distanceoutwardly that any portion of the roller attains.

shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and-asthe roller moves to-the diagonal positionof Fig. 4 this point has moved inwardly a small distance. Points on theperipheral surface of the roller between the imaginary points 60 and 61thus move outward. ly their maximum distances at various positions ofthe roller intermediate'the radial position'of the roller shown in Fig.'2 and the diagonal position shown in Fig. 4. The periphery of the outerside of the imaginary solid which; bounds the 119 maxiinum sweep of the.roller. in its planetary movement therefore has a peculiar curvature;and the lower portion 52 of thebowl is'given this peculiar curvature asis clearlyillustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, and maybe substantiallyCOlIlCDeiQ-fi dent with this bounding periphery of the-imaginary solid.

The curvature of the bottom portion of the side walls of the container,therefore, is so coordinated with the shape and planetary movement of1129 the roller as to approximate the imaginary curve which representsthe outer sweep of that portion of the end of the roller belowthe.roller center line. The curvature of this portion. 52. of

bowl 24 is continued upwardly to the horizontalplane of line 58 abovethe horizontal center line of the roller, so that a somewhat greaterclearanceis provided between this upper portion of the bowl and thecolander roller. .Thus when er.is working on top of this food andspacedsomewhat from the bottom 53 of the bowl, a greater effective clearancemay be satisfactorily provided. But as the roller initscontinuedmovement crushes and scrapes the food and' thus" works its wayto the bottom of the bowl, the bounding periphery of its movement veryclosely approaches the curved innersurface of the lower portion of thebowl. Thisconstruction'prevents the formation of dead pockets or spacesadjacent-- the bottom of the bowl in which untreated food canaccumulate; and therefore provides a'more effectiveandrapidseparating'action of the food being treated.

While the roller thus effectively, scrapes thefood being treated fromthe entire lower side wall and .bottom of the bowl 24 during itsplanetary movement,-only a small peripheral point or edge of the'roller'is in its-maximum outward scraping movement at any instant ofits travelll50 And due to the character of the planetary movement, the rollerdescribes many rotations on its own axis and about the axis of theplanetary before it again assumes the same identical position within thebowl, this being dependent upon the particular planetary gearing used.Thus the roller scrapes a different portion of the side wall of the bowlon each rotation thereof for as many as fifty or more rotations, untilit again comes back to the identical starting position. While tworollers 42 having their outer ends spaced equal distances from the axisof shaft 32 are illustrated, it is obvious that one roller may beshorter than the other and only the longer roller used to eifect thescraping action of the food from the side wall of the bowl. Also, whilecylindrical rollers with plane surfaced circular ends have been shown,other forms of rollers may be provided and the shape of the lower sidewall of the bowl coordinated with the planetary movement thereof so asto closely circumscribe the imaginary solid bounded by the extreme outerpositions of the sweep of the colander rollers.

In Fig. 5 a modified form of container construction is illustrated inwhich a. separate perforate bottom member 64 is provided within thecontainer 24' which is constructed similarly to the container 24, havingan imperforate side wall with a lower curved portion 52'. At the bottom,the curved side wall is provided with a short inwardly extending flange62 forming a circular opening over which is positioned the separatebottom member 64 supported on flange 62. Member 64 is provided with ashort upwardly and outwardly flaring flange 63 adapted to assumesubstantially the same curvature as the wall portion 52. Due to thecontinued upward and outward flare of the wall 52 above the periphery ofthe top of flange 63, the maximum outside diameter of the separatebottom member is substantially less than the inner diameter of the sidewall of the container above the extreme lower portion withinwhich theremovable bottom seats, so that this bottom may be readily inserteddownwardly into operating position with the flange 63 wedged in andforming a seal with the curved side wall of the bowl. The removablebottom 64 is preferably made of stamped sheet metal, and the flange 63may have a somewhat greater outward flaring curvature than the wall 52of the bowl so that the flange 63 springs into place upon insertion ofthe bottom member to hold the member securely in position within thebowl. The bottom member may be removed from the .bowl by a slight blowagainst the bottom side which disengages the flange 63 from the sidewall of the container and permits the bottom member to be removedupwardly through the bowl. The

difference in the diameters of the flange 63 and of the side wall of thecontainer is such as to prevent any objectionable binding duringremoval. Flange 63 fits snugly against the lower wall of the containerso that the ends of the colander rollers will cooperate with this flangeand with the curved portion 52 of the bowl above the flange in the samemannerasthe rollers in Figs. 1 to 4 cooperate with the curved portion 52of the container24; The rollers 40 thus work down in the bottom of theflange 53 of the construction of Fig. 5, and there is practically nodead space for the accumulation of untreated foodstufis. The readyremovability of the bottom member facilitates cleaning of the bowl, andalso permits different members with various sizes of perforations orstraining surfaces to be used with a single bowl and colanderattachment.

While the forms of apparatus herein described constitute preferredembodiments of the invention, it is to be understood that the inventionis not limited to these precise forms of apparatus, and that changes maybe made therein without departing from the scope of the invention whichis defined in the appended claims.

Whatis claimed is:

l. A colander bowl for the straining of foodstuffs comprising a sidewall having an inwardly curving bottom portion and an inwardlyprojecting bottom flange, and a removable perforate bottom wall withinsaid side wall and removable upwardly out of said side wall, said bottomwall having an upwardly and outwardly extending peripheral flange formedof spring material, said peripheral flange having a somewhat greateroutward flare than said inwardly 110 curving bottom portion whereby saidflange springs securely into place against said inward- .ly curvingbottom portion of the said side wall assaid bottom wall is inserteddownwardly into position within said side wall.

2. A strainer for foodstufis comprising a bowl having a cylindrical sidewall with an open top, said side wall having an inwardly curving bottomportion and an inwardly projecting bottom flange, and a removableperforate circular bot-' tom wall supported on said inwardly projectingbottom flange within said side wall and removable upwardly out of saidside wall, "said bottom wall having an upwardly and outwardly extendingperipheral flange formed of thin sheet spring 125 material adapted toengage the interior of said inwardly curving bottom portion of the saidside wall, said peripheral flange having a'somewhat greater outwardflarethan saidinwardly curving bottom-portion so that said flange springsinto place against said inwardly curving bottom portion without anyappreciable inward projection about the entire periphery thereof as saidbottom wall is inserted downwardly intoposi-

